December was a Question

An anonymous submission with a personal view from someone not from Greece but connected to the place and its events in recent times. We publish this article as part of our 10 years after police murder on Alexis series.

Submitted to Enough is Enough.

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of these events, we are publishing this text for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on and for documentation only.

You will find the all articles of our series 10 years after police murder on Alexis: here.

December was a Question

I was far away from Athens in December 2008, both physically andmentally. Consumed mostly with my own life, but questions about thefunctioning of the wider world had started to open up. Around the sametime a supposedly content, stable and invincible social and politicalorder had revealed it was in reality fragile. The financial crisis of2007/8 had exposed its rotten foundations. Images of failed institutionsand bailed-out banks dominated for months, till suddenly other imagesemerged. Unknown figures moving along narrow burning streets. Crowdsconfronting the police, banks smashed and broken.

Who were these people and why was their city burning? The news reportsdid not really say much. A boy had been killed, perhaps by accident theyclaimed, but beyond that not much explanation. It took some time till itwas admitted that Alexis death was no accident, the police had treatedthis 15 year old as their enemy. Eventually, I understood that Alexis,and those who took the streets after he fell, were doing more thanquestioning, they had moved on to confronting their corner of this nowfragile world. Fighting the police who killed, the political partiesthat govern, the banks that were going bust and the fascists who ralliedto the state. They had already asked their questions and knew where theystood. Watching these people who did not look so different from myselfin a city that could have been anywhere could not help but answer somequestions for myself and anyone watching. Though I was not there,December was a galvanising event.

As was said at the time December was a question. It was a question bothfor the Greek state and the anarchist and anti-authoritarian space. Forthe state the weeks of riots and protests which made up the revoltmarked the beginning of a decade of crisis. It was not the moment 18months later when the state was declared bankrupt that began the crisis.Only later would the question of economic policy, austerity or debtrelief, euro or drachma come to dominate. Before that there were crowdsof people on the streets revolting against much more than just a policy.People were fighting the police, the guardians of the state. The forces’record of clamping down on demonstrations, abuse of migrants andrefugees, along with the accompanying ‘accidental’ deaths, and its tiesto the far-right and petty mafias was well known. Nor was the murder ofa 15 year old anything new. People were no longer listening to thepolitical parties in parliament, their promises of change and reform hadgrown old twenty years ago. The supposed foundations of the modernsociety, the free market consumer society was being rejected. Banks weretrashed and stores looted. What’s more the crowds were rejecting theirrole as the individual citizen and were acting collectively to fight, toorganise and discuss. There were few calls put forward for reforms,instead the different pillars of the state and capital were rejected.For all its troubled history the Greek state was meant to be beyond suchquestions like so many other states. All of a sudden the happy Greece ofthe stable parliamentary democracy, of the Olympics and acceptance intothe Euro was gone. Once it happened people had to admit the revolt wasinevitable and there were deep problems in society. Here the crisisbegan.

Ten years later the crisis has been declared over. The economy has beenshredded but the eurozone survived. A number of Prime Ministers andgovernments came and went but many of the same characters still lecturefrom parliament, the man in charge of the police in December is nowPresident of the Republic. The salvation of the country turned out tomean a great reduction in wages, rises in workplace deaths and suicides,a reduction of social services and the marketing of whatever piece ofearth or property can be sold to the world’s wealthy. Following December2008 more were to die like Lambros Foundas and Pavlos Fyssas. Otherswere loaded with charges and imprisoned. On the streets it is nownationalism that is mobilising people. The state has not yet really beenable to provide any answers to its own crisis, it continues to reignbecause no one else managed to find any either.

December was also a question for the anarchist and anti-authoritarianspace and all who see themselves in it. Every revolt leads to thequestion of how to go further, how to build, how to progress and perhapshow to move from revolt to revolution. Such questions remain open. Thelast ten years saw many things and while the movement was part ofnumerous significant moments the major questions are unanswered. Withthe bankruptcy of the state hundreds of thousands were on the streets.After a brief period trying to fight for their own needs most were ledback into line behind a variety of parties which went on to revive thevery programme people were struggling against. Naturally, demoralisationset in across a large part of society, a process the movement was alsocaught up in. Important things were still to come, the fight againstGolden Dawn and fascism as well as the continuing refugee solidarityefforts. But the way has yet to be found to keep the fires of revoltburning and spreading. We were unable to convince people to break awayfrom a failing social and political system rather than seek some newmanager of that broken system. How can we as anarchists do more thanreact to the crisis of the state and capital and start to follow our ownpath taking along as many people as possible. These questions thatDecember posed continue to be the questions of today.

Ten years on is December 6th just a commemoration and unansweredquestions? Other revolts also ultimately failed to provide answers totheir times and their memory became part of the institutions. Alexiscould join the list of those who died in past struggles. But December isnot just a stale memory. The state has had troubled dealing with thememory of a revolt so explicitly directed against the state itself andevery December since has had its political stakes. Even for thosewatching from afar the events had an effect and continue to be aninspiration. In more miserable times how can we not remember the momentswhen thousands of people took to the streets to give the police theresponse they deserved and act collectively against this individualisedsociety. We may still be searching for solutions to grand problems butas it did no doubt for many individuals December certainly answered somequestions about who we are and where we stand in such moments.The last few years have been bleak, and the future looks far frompromising, but December showed how quickly things can change. If thequestion of December remains open that is also the case for everyone.The central fact of our time is that the world is increasinglyprecarious, the stability global capitalism once enjoyed is still notrestored. Ten years on there are people who continue asking questionsfor now as much as then tomorrow remains a day when nothing is certain.Since December 2008 much has changed but just as much has stayed thesame and so the revolt remains a living memory and inspiration.

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